[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: The Helixcommunity RPSL is not DFSG-free

Branden Robinson wrote:


On Wed, Mar 05, 2003 at 10:27:10PM -0800, Rob Lanphier wrote:

As mentioned by Dave Turner, the talks between RealNetworks and the Free
Software Foundation are ongoing.  Digging back through this thread has
been useful input for us. I need to get around to setting up another call to discuss. 

Sounds good; while I'm confident the Free Software Foundation will
fairly accurately represent views that are shared by the Debian Project
(except perhaps in the documentation department), we'd be happy to
participate in such a discussion if you'd like.


Thanks for the offer.  I'll see what we can coordinate here.
We're currently evaluating our license with this thread in mind, but does anybody have new suggested wording? 

Hopefully the folks on this list will avail themselves of the
opportunity; if not, I'll see if I can spare a few moments for a close
reading of the RPSL in the near future.

Speaking for myself, I very much appreciate Real giving serious
consideration to Free licensing of its codec(s).  If the practical
effect of this is that I can use software in Debian main to listen to
Real-encoded programming at www.npr.org, I'll be a very happy man
indeed.  :)
I would be very happy, too. However, this is something we've given very serious consideration to, and found that because we've licensed large swaths of RealAudio and RealVideo from other companies, we just aren't in the position to do this. We recognize that this is a hole in our offering, and have been doing several things to address that: * Working with the Xiph.org Foundation on Ogg Vorbis integration (and discussing Ogg Theora) 
*  Including other codecs that we do have license to ship (e.g. MP3, H.263)
* Source code compatibility with other separately distributed codecs (e.g. AAC, MPEG-4 video)
Moreover, we do allow for use of RealAudio and RealVideo as binary plugins to the Helix DNA, so that the bulk of your software can be free software, and you can write software which encourages the migration toward free formats. 

Hope this helps,
Rob
Reply to: